Now I don’t even remember where I originally saw it, but as far as I can tell the current outrage was started by fraudulent ex-terrorist & terrorism expert turned Christian, Walid Shoebat, who posted it yesterday on his blog (screenshot). It was also on many of the hater blogs, most linking back to Shoebat.

Automatically assuming that anything originating with Shoebat or any of the other so-called “counterjihadists” is most likely an intentional misrepresentation designed to pander to people’s fears and trigger thier confirmation bias, I decided to go poking around to see what I could find out about it.

At first I was a bit miffed, but the more I read the descriptions of it on the hater blogs and wingnutty, fear mongering tweets like these, the more absurd it became until it began to seem downright comical. Granted the little boys look terrified and I feel sorry for them, but the breathless claims that this was definitive PROOF of a Hamas member (some even claimed it was the boys’ father) hanging kids up as human shields on the side of a building was just too freaking bizarre and I had to LOL.

Really? I mean, seriously—you actually believe that they’re literally going around attaching kid-shields to the sides of buildings by hanging them off window gratings like Christmas stockings pinned to a fireplace mantle? Not only that, but that some Hamas guy is actually letting someone take pictures of it?? And why isn’t the IDF taking photos of it to push back against all the bad PR they’ve been getting?

The stupid, it burns.

All you can tell for sure from the photo is that the kids are clearly in distress. There’s Arabic graffiti on the wall, but that doesn’t prove squat—they could be in any number of countries. Also, how do we know the guy isn’t taking them down, not putting them up? Look at his left arm and the left foot of the kid whose collar he’s holding—it looks like he’s holding the kid around his legs and trying to lift him up so he can take him down. But hey, if you think all Arabs/Muslims are heartless, violent savages, then nothing is too much of a stretch, I guess. *SMH*

How did the kids get up there in the first place? Who in the hell knows? I sure don’t and I’m fairly certain Shoebat doesn’t have a clue either, but anyone who’s ever had kids knows they can get themselves is some crazy, (seemingly) impossible predicaments. If it was what he’s claiming it is (and what so many are repeating like a battalion of inane wind-up dolls), then why isn’t it in major newspapers? Why is there no date, time, and exact location? Why isn’t the photographer taking credit? Yeah, I know, I know: Because [insert wingnut conspiracy theory of your choice].

Anyway, last but not least I searched for the image on Google Images to see how far back I could find references to it. Most of the results were from Facebook, so there’s no telling where it originated. I gave up at the 2001 reference to “The Rapture Is Imminent!” (Bad crazy, don’t go there,)

Looking at an Arabic page and did a Google translate. They all seem to be criticizing this guy. Published: 2013-12

UPDATE at 8/5/14 10:28:52 am by CuriousLurker

H/T to Sergey for finding a copy of the photo posted to Facebook in June 2011. I now consider the claims that the photo is related to current events in Gaza to be definitively debunked. Thanks, Sergey!